Bucks May Be Sued Over Progress On Pump Order

An official of the North Wales Water Authority said yesterday his agency may ask for a contempt citation next week against the Bucks County commissioners and the Neshaminy Water Resources Authority.

Peter Lukens, executive director of the North Wales authority, said his agency is not satisfied with Bucks County's progress in implementing the court order to build the Point Pleasant water project.

"We're running very short of patience," Lukens said in an interview. "If they continue to resist, contempt is a real possibility."

Lukens said attorneys for the North Wales and the North Penn water authorities have made three requests since last month for a list of real estate parcels that will be made available to them under the court order of Bucks County President Judge Isaac S. Garb.

Bucks County has failed to provide the list, Lukens said. Unless it is provided by early next week, he said, his agency will ask the court to step in to order the item produced. Lukens said the request to Bucks County Court could include a demand that a contempt citation be issued if county officials fail to comply with the court order.

Under Garb's order issued in early 1985 and upheld in June by the state Supreme Court, the county is required to complete the Point Pleasant pumping station. The county also has the option of either building the other components of the system or making them available to the North Penn and North Wales water authorities, which would then complete construction.

North Penn and North Wales would, in turn, have to reimburse the county for the cost of the real estate, plans and permits. The major component that North Penn and North Wales would be responsible for building would be the Chalfont water treatment plant.

"The court order specifically told them to 'turn over.' We've sent them three requests asking them to 'turn over' the real estate and the deeds, and they haven't responded," Lukens said.

What the Neshaminy Water Resources Authority has done is send letters to the customers of the North Penn and North Wales authorities that state that completion of the Point Pleasant project is not in their best interests.

The letter, written by John H. Elfman Jr., chairman of the NWRA, reiterated the county's offer made earlier this week that a new option would be available to replace Point Pleasant.

That option is construction of a $16-million extension to Montgomery County from a water system operated in Northampton Township by the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority.

"Your water companies have chosen to insist upon - at your inconvenience and expense - the most costly and least efficient way of solving your water problems. They've chosen to pursue the Point Pleasant water diversion project. They've chosen to insist upon a $78-million project that would send water rates skyrocketing instead of developing alternatives," the letter said.

Elfman's letter invited North Penn and North Wales customers to a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Kulpsville for an explanation of the alternative.

Bucks County solicitor James M. McNamara said the commissioners and the NWRA board members are operating within the court order in offering an alternative to Point Pleasant.

McNamara said the court order permits Bucks County certain avenues of negotiation with North Penn and North Wales.

Tracy Carluccio, executive director of the NWRA, added that the court order specifies Bucks County must meet a contractual obligation to supply water to North Penn and North Wales. She suggested that Bucks County could still meet that obligation without bringing the Point Pleasant project on line.

The court order, she said, does not forbid the county from developing alternatives to Point Pleasant.

But Lukens said the North Wales authority will settle for nothing less than what the court order specified: completion of the Point Pleasant water project.

"We see the letter as a slap in the face to the court order," said Lukens.